LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 




020 930 205 6 W 



HoUinger Corp. 
pH8.5 




III. 

REPOET OF THE SPECIAL COMMITTEE FOR WAR 
SERVICE OF THE AMERICAN BAR ASSOCIATION. 

The committee began its work in Washington early in January, 
1918 (after receiving a letter from President Wilson dated De- 
cember 31, 1917, in which he wrote that the " work should be done 
in consultation and close cooperation with the Secretary of La- 
bor," as the Department of Labor " was doing the same work upon 
a broader scale because including others besides the legal pro- 
fession"). 

The committee was started in the first instance as a legal clear- 
ing house where lawyers wishing to help the government could 
either call or register their qualifications on cards prepared by 
the committee and to which the various departments, bureaus 
and commissions of the government who desired lawyers could 
apply. As the committee was in a sense an employment bureau 
for lawyers and because of the letter from President Wilson, it 
resulted naturally that the committee should be given offices in 
the building of the United States Employment Service of the 
Department of Labor. 

The committee was organized by the personal selection of 
lawyers in every state in the Union to act as its advisors; by a 
list of all the legal advisory boards in the country, more than 
4500 in number; by the names and addresses of the presidents 
and secretaries and so far as possible of the names of the mem- 
bers of the 700 and odd bar associations of the country ; and it 
later obtained the names of one or more accredited lawyers in 
almost every county in the Union. In addition to these lists the 
committee obtained the lists of the lawyers of the Employers' 
Liability Assurance Corporation; the guaranteed attorneys 
list of the United States Fidelity and Guaranty Co., the Russell 
Law List and Martindale and Hubbell's Legal Directories. 

Besides the work of placing lawyers there later developed a 
large amount of work which the committee was able to do in 
assisting the various departments, bureaus and commissions 
in war work. 



^f> 



Because of the order in which the work of the committee was 
undertaken and also for the sake of clearness in describing the 
work it has seemed best to the committee to divide its work as 
follows : 

First. The work of the committee as a Legal Clearing House. 

(a) The work of placing lawyers in Washington. 

(b) The work of placing lawyers elsewhere in the United 
States. 

(c) The work of lawyers overseas. 

Second. The cooperation in war work with the various de- 
partments, bureaus and commissions. 

Third. The work of the committee requiring special mention, 
and 

Fourth. The work done by the committee as suggested by 
President Wilson in consultation and close cooperation with the 
Secretary of Labor. 

First. From the list of almost 4000 lawyers who offered their 
services to the government upon such terms as they could afford ; 
from the members of the American Bar Association and from 
other lawyers carefully selected throughout the country, we sup- 
plied lawyers to do much of the war work required by the govern- 
ment. 

(a) To the State Department in Washington we furnished the 
names of several lawyers for international law work and for other 
general work in that department. To the attorney-general we 
supplied a lawyer to work on the status of interned alien enemies 
which work will be referred to later. To the Internal Revenue 
Branch of the Treasury Department we supplied lawyers for in- 
come tax and other work and also many lawyers to the War Risk 
Insurance Bureau. The work which we did for this bureau will 
be described later on in this report. To the Department of Labor 
we supplied lawyers for the Public Service Reserve and the 
United States Housing Corporation. To the War Department 
we supplied lawyers for several of its branches, including the 
Military Intelligence Branch and the Quartermaster's and Ord- 
nance Corps. To the Department of Agriculture we supplied 
several lawyers. We had been in consultation with the Post- 
Master General's office on the question of lawyers for telephone 
and telegraph work and were preparing to enlist the services of 

Sm Ihlte Hriss. 



Qql 



lawyers for the Department of the Interior at the time the 
2" armistice was signed. We also supplied lawj'ers to the Food 

Administration, Fuel Administration, U. S. Shipping Board, 
Emergency Fleet Corporation, Council of National Defense, War 
Trade Board, Alien Property Custodian and American Red Cross. 

(b) For work in other parts of the country outside of Wash- 
ington we supplied to the War Eisk Insurance Bureau at least one 
lawyer in almost every county in the Union, more than 3000 in 
all. To the Department of Justice we furnished the names of 
lawyers in every state to assist the district attorneys in cases of 
necessity. To the Military Intelligence Branch of the War De- 
partment we furnished the names of approximately 500 law7ers 
in cities and towns chiefly through the middle west. For the 
Department of Labor we selected lawj'ers duly qualified to assist 
the Housing Corporation of that department with its projects 
throughout the country. To the Committee of Training Camp 
Activities we supplied lawyers responsible for proper conditions 
and the enforcement of law in the neighborhood of camps, and 
to the War Camp Community Service more than 150 lawyers for 
voluntary work at local stations. In assisting the director of 
field work in the United States Employment Service the com- 
mittee supplied about one-half the organizers, and to the War 
Industries Board we furnished the names of law}'ers of promi- 
nence for special work. 

The work done by lawyers outside of Washington was almost 
entirely volunteer work. 

(c) For overseas work, besides referring law}-ers to the Judge- 
Advocate General's office (which office usually made its ovni se- 
lections), we supplied several lawyers to work on adjusting claims 
in France. These men spoke French and had some insurance 
experience. We supplied law}'ers to the State Department for 
consular service. To the Military Intelligence Bureau, lawyers 
for interpreting and other work who spoke respectively Russian, 
Czecho-Slovak, Japanese, Rumanian, Norwegian, Swedish, 
Danish and Dutch. Several lawyers were supplied to the Motor 
Transport Co. and to the Field Artillery Service. At the 
time of the signing of the armistice the names of 50 law}'^ers of 
administrative and prosecuting experience had been furnished 
to the General Staff for military police duty in France, and also 



the names of 40 men selected for domestic and overseas work for 
the military and intelligence service to whom commissions were 
being issued at the time hostilities ceased. We also supplied from 
time to time lawyers for work overseas for the American Eed 
Cross and for the Y. M. C. A. 

Second. Owing to the very large number of departments, 
bureaus and commissions engaged in war work, especially in the 
War Department, it was extremely important (in order that the 
committee should be able to supply as far as possible the need for 
lawyers) that that department should have a personnel section 
to whom the committee could refer. The committee was largely 
instrumental in bringing about such a section. 

In several important instances we have prevented duplication 
of effort by getting together men in the different departments who 
were unconsciously working on similar work, independently of 
each other — notably in the case of the Judge-Advocate General's 
office and the Council of National Defense, in the organization 
of local boards throughout the country, and in the case of the 
War Service Exchange and the United States Employment 
Service in securing recruits for the army. We worked with the 
Attorney- General's office in the attempted coordination of the 
various law departments so as to avoid the repetition of an ex- 
amination of identically the same question and so as to render 
uniform the opinions thereon. 

With the Secretary of the Navy in calling to the attention of 
the legal advisory boards the Soldiers' and Sailors' Civil Relief 
Act. Through these boards we received the cordial assistance 
of the lawyers throughout the country in carrying out the pro- 
visions of the act. 

The Alien Property Custodian conceived the idea of getting 
all the lawyers of the country (approximately 150,000 in num- 
ber) to assist him in uncovering such German owned property as, 
according to the usages of war, should be taken over by the gov- 
ernment: and he also wrote for the same purpose to all the pro- 
bate and other judges having jurisdiction of estates. At his 
request the committee cooperated with him in enlisting the 
services of lawyers through the presidents of all the bar associa- 
tions. The Alien Property Custodian also asked the committee 



to furnish him competent lawyers to represent him in court in 
tlie various counties in New York state ; and from time to time 
we supplied him with lawyers for special service in cities and 
towns throughout the country. 

Third. Soon after the committee entered upon its work in 
Washington it learned that claims agents and pension attorneys 
were inducing beneficiaries of war risk insurance to place in their 
hands claims against the government on a percentage basis and 
at exorbitant rates. In most instances it was entirely unneces- 
sary to employ lawyers ; and many times the claims were obtained 
through misrepresentation. The committee also learned that Con- 
gress, knowing of this situation, Avas proposing to restrict the fees 
of agents and attorneys and that Congressman Treadway of 
Massachusetts was working on a bill to effect this purpose. We 
discovered that the Bureau of War Risk Insurance was unaware 
both of the practices of these claims agents and attorneys and 
also of the proposed bill. The committee arranged for a confer- 
ence between Congressman Treadway and the Law Department 
of the Bureau of War Eisk Insurance and assisted in the draft- 
ing of the bill which afterwards became a law. It was evident 
that in order to render effectual the purpose of the bill we must 
obtain the gratuitous assistance of the lawyers of the country. To 
accomplish this purpose we worked with the Secretary of the 
Treasury and with him sent out to all the legal advisory boards, 
approximately 4500 in number, a letter from the Secretary of 
tlie Treasury and the chairman of the committee, and thereby 
obtained the voluntary services of a large proportion of the Bar of 
the country, who, in addition to the work they had done for about 
9,000,000 registrants in working out their questionnaires, had 
also helped the enlisted men in various ways with the aid of the 
home sections of the Red Cross and the committees of the State 
Councils of Defense. The result of this work will be to get for 
the soldiers and sailors substantially the full amount of the money 
due tliem on their war risk insurance. 

The War Department has relied on the committee to handle the 
correspondence of the soldiers, sailors and their dependents in 
cases where their rights were assailed in violation of the Soldiers' 
and Sailors' Civil Relief Act. Letters have been constantly 



received from the wives of the enlisted men and others, usually 
addressed to the President of the United States or to the Secretary 
of War, asking for help either where their property was about to 
be seized under foreclosure proceedings, or other acts were at- 
tempted to be done contrary to the provisions of the act. These 
letters were inunediately referred to the committee and we have 
been able through the machinery of the office to make a speedy 
and satisfactory selection of lawyers who have rendered gratuitous 
service in every instance. The Judge- Advocate and Adjutant- 
General's office have frequently called upon the committee in like 
cases for a lawyer in some city, town or hamlet of the country, 
to assist the enlisted men or their families and Ave liave always 
been able to furnish them a lawyer within 24 hours of the time 
the application was made. 

It has seemed best to the conmiittee to make special reference 
to its work in regard to alien enemies. The prol)leni was first 
presented to us upon application from the Department of Justice 
for an attorney to investigate the situation at Hot Springs, N. C, 
where many German sailors were living, placed there from the 
interned ships. Upon the United States Government devolved 
the duty of feeding these men. Many of them had families in 
the United States who were subject to public charity as a result 
of their internment, and they were also a source of anxiety to the 
surrounding country. The Department of Justice desired to 
utilize the services of these men so far as it could safely be done, 
uj)on work of a productive nature. To accomplish this purpose 
an attorney was selected by the committee for the Department of 
Justice who, in consultation with the committee, began an in- 
vestigation of conditions at Hot Springs. A questionnaire was 
framed and distributed among the men at camp, and through their 
answers evidence was obtained which enabled the Department of 
Justice to determine what men were eligible for parole. The 
committee worked as an intermediary between the Department 
of Justice and the Department of Labor which had joint jurisdic- 
tion of the situation, with the result that a considerable number of 
men were sent to work in industrial departments and upon farms. 
It was later called to the attention of the committee that friendly 
enemy aliens were not allowed to pass through certain barred 
zones. By arrangements with the Department of Justice the 



United States marshals were instructed to permit the transport 
of these men through the barred zones in such a way as to greatly 
increase their working capacity and thereby to materially con- 
tribute to the national food supply. The lawyer whom we se- 
lected for the Department of Justice is still at work on questions 
relating to enemy aliens and will undoubtedly continue his work 
until the questions are disposed of. 

Fourth. Because of our close association with the Department 
of Labor we have been able to carry out the wishes of President 
Wilson and to cooperate with that department in various ways. 
Among others we succeeded in improving the relationship be- 
tween that department and the other departments of the govern- 
ment. We also assisted the United States Employment Service 
in field organization of labor through the community labor boards 
by supplying to them about half of their organizers, and also the 
Boys' Working Reserve of the United States Employment Ser- 
vice with a list of organizers in their field. 

Early in the spring the director of the Bureau of Farm Labor 
of the Department of Labor called upon the committee to assist 
in connection with the crop shortage. The problem was to in- 
crease the number of agricultural workers. Even before the war 
there was a deticiency in farm labor which was considerably in- 
creased by conscription into the army, and by the inducements 
offered to farm hands by occupations paying higher wages. 
There were also a large number of men who were either idle or 
engaged in useless or unnecessary occupations. The remedy for 
these conditions apjieared to be through some form of compulsory 
legislation which would require all ])ersons to engage in some 
useful pursuit. The committee learned that the national com- 
mittee on prisons and prison labor was already working with the 
provost marshal to frame a uniform, compulsory work law. The 
secretary of the committee attended conferences at which the 
Maryland Anti-Loafing Law was used .is a basis for the proposed 
imiform law. It was suggested at these conferences that the 
American Bar Association should transmit to the state commis- 
sions on uniform laws a draft of their proposed law and that the 
commissioners should procure a passage of such a law through 
their legislatures at the earliest moment. At the outset it was 
feared by some of the leading men of the Department of Labor 



tliat siK'li a compulsory work law might be used unfairly against 
the laboring man and would tend to lower the standard of living 
and wages. After interviews with the Secretary of Labor and 
the War Labor Policies Board, amendments to the proposed law 
were suggested acceptable both to the conference and to the De- 
partment of Labor, thus removing the chief obstacles to the 
passage of such legislation. 

When the question was taken up with the commissioners on 
uniform laws, the committee learned that Judge Stockbridge of 
Maryland, representing the commissioners, was working on a 
similar law. It was therefore necessary to have a meeting on 
the final draft of the law at which all persons interested, includ- 
ing representatives of the Council of National Defense, were 
present. The draft of the bill as finally agreed upon was ap- 
proved at a meeting of the commissioners on uniform laws held 
the week preceding the annual meeting of the American Bar 
Association. 

The question of compulsory work legislation was again brought 
to the attention of the committee by the director of the Bureau 
of Farm Labor in connection with crop harvesting in the south. 
The result of the increased income received by colored women 
through the allotments and allowances of enlisted men was said 
to interfere seriously with the work of harvesting, especially of 
cotton, which in the south depends largely upon colored female 
labor. It was suggested by the director that the compulsory work 
law be extended to all persons. After talking with the rejire- 
sentatives of the previous conference ; with women familiar with 
labor conditions throughout the country; with the professor of 
negro economics of the Department of Labor; with the solicitor 
and assistant secretary of the departaient and with several well- 
known and well-informed southerners, the committee advised 
against the inclusion of women in the compulsory work law, 
experience having demonstrated that any such provision would 
be enforced against colored but not against white women. To re- 
lieve the existing situation the committee offered its services to 
Dr. Haynes, professor of negro economics, who was already en- 
gaged in the work of cooperation between the whites and blaoks 
in certain of the southern states. 

Our work with the War Service Exchange and with the Public 
Eeserve of the Department of Labor disclosed duplication of 



9 

effort between the two departments. This was due in part to 
misunderstandings between the heads of the departments which 
the committee helped to remove by bringing them together on 
the occasion of the drive by the general staff for a large number 
of limited service men for commissioned officers. It was learned 
that the General Staff proposed to secure these men through its 
own machinery to be built up regardless of the existing machinery 
of the Department of Labor. Discussion with the leading men 
at the War Service Exchange and the Conmiitt^e on Classification 
of Personnel, resulted in a conference with the persons in charge 
of the U. S. Employment Service and the Public Service Reserve, 
at which it was finally agreed that a certain proportion of the 
men desired by the General Staff should be secured by the De- 
partment of Labor. This work was immediately undertaken by 
the Department of Labor and the responsibility for its success 
was placed on this committee. At the time of the signing of the 
armistice the work was well under way and the War Service Ex- 
change informed the committee that the results already obtained 
justified the belief that the plan would have been a complete suc- 
cess. The reverse process is now taking place. The Department 
of Labor has been called upon to put the soldiers back into in- 
dustry. The partial success which it had achieved in the drive 
above referred to has made it easier to secure the good will and co- 
operation of the War Department. The conmiittee has again 
been asked to help the Department of Labor in working out a 
professional section to have special charge of placing lawyers, 
engineers and other educated men who are handicapped by womids 
or otherwise disabled. The secretary of the committee is now 
working with the Department of Labor in cooperation with the 
Bureau of Education upon this plan. 

In conclusion, it is interesting to note that the first important 
work done by the committee in Washington was in connection 
with the activities of pension attorneys and claims agents, and 
that it is now engaged for its last work in getting the Secretary 
of the Treasury to combine with the committee in calling the 
attention of the entire Bar of the country to the renewed activi- 
ties of these attorneys and agents, and with the assistance of all 
the lawyers again to thwart the endeavors of these men. 

John Lowell, Chairman. 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS ^ 

lilllilillililllllillilllli ' 

020 930 205 6 



.LI- As 



Pi 



A 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 

imiii 

020 930 205 6 #• 



HoUinger Corp. 
pH8.5 



